1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to vehicle-borne emergency traffic signaling devices, and particularly to emergency traffic signaling devices carried on police cruisers, tow trucks, road-side work trucks and other vehicles designed to provide emergency road service to motorists.
2. Background and Description of Related Art
Normal traffic flow is subject on a regular basis, daily on many thoroughfares, to impediments resulting from automobile breakdowns, accidents, and road repairs, which are a significant source of delay and irritation to the motoring public. While events of breakdown and accident are in a statistical sense largely inevitable, the length of delay caused by any one such event depends on a variety of factors; one important and often disregarded factor is the confusion and distraction which the precipitating event, and the police or other emergency response to that event, cause for other motorists approaching the vicinity of the event.
Typically the occurrence of an accident on a highway is followed by the arrival of a cluster of emergency vehicles, which block one or more of the traffic lanes and which display several arrays of extremely bright and multicolored flashing lights. The effect on oncoming traffic is generally sudden confusion, anxiety, and stress. At night and on days where vision is furthered hampered by fog, snow or smoke, an accident scene is even more confusing, especially to elderly drivers, and it creates a set of circumstances with a high risk of secondary accidents.
Upon the arrival of a tow truck to remove a disabled car from the roadway, the disabled vehicle has usually already been pushed off the roadway onto the shoulder, and to effect its removal the tow truck is driven to a position in front of the disabled vehicle. If the tow truck""s flashing lights are not already on, they are now switched on to inform traffic oncoming in the travel lanes, from either direction, that a recovery operation or repairs are in progress. At night, rearward-facing bright work lights on the tow truck are usually also switched on, to illuminate the truck""s winch mechanism and the area on and behind the tow truck bed. Often these bright working lights direct a blinding glare into the eyes of oncoming drivers, adding to an already confusing and dangerous situation. Commonly a police vehicle sporting bright flashing lights is also at the scene, typically stopped behind the disabled vehicle, which is now bracketed by the police vehicle and the tow truck.
All too often the emergency signaling equipment of the emergency vehicles, including the bright flashing lights of both police vehicles and emergency repair vehicles such as tow trucks, exacerbate rather than ameliorate the confusion and anxiety of oncoming motorists. Furthermore this emergency signaling equipment in fact provides virtually no useful information to drivers suddenly confronting the scene of an emergency: the flashing blue lights of police cars identify the fact of an emergency event, but they provide no other useful information to motorists and they may be so bright as to impair the view of oncoming motorists.
The same is true for the bright work lights of tow trucks: while at night they serve the useful purpose of illuminating the accident scene for emergency personnel, they too often spill blinding glare that seriously impairs the visibility of oncoming motorists, and they provide no information useful to motorists for minimizing the distraction, risk of secondary accidents and delays that result from the precipitating event. There is accordingly a need to equip emergency vehicles, including both police cruisers and tow trucks, with programmable signaling means adapted to inform oncoming vehicles effectively with usable information regarding the roadway impediment, of a nature that will minimize the traffic congestion and risks of accidents associated with highway emergencies.
In general it is highly desirable to provide emergency vehicles with effective means of signaling motorists, at the earliest possible time, of a roadway obstruction in their line of travel, in order to assist the motorists to progress past the obstruction with a minimum of delay, a minimum of risk, and a minimum of irritation.
In the prior art numerous efforts have been made to address these concerns, with varying degrees of effectiveness. In the case of planned traffic obstructions, such as are caused by planned repairs to the roadway, effective means presently exist for informing oncoming motorists of the obstruction, and of ways of circumventing it with minimum confusion and delay. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,883,846 issued to Bruner, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,622,980 issued to Elledge each discloses a towable trailer, bearing an illuminated signpost, that may be towed to positions suitable for advising oncoming traffic of the roadway obstruction, and such trailers, typically powered by batteries but sometimes by solar panels, have become ubiquitous at roadway repair sites.
Trailer-borne signal display devices are not suitable, however, for assisting highway travelers to negotiate suddenly occurring roadway obstructions and emergencies, caused by accidents, vehicle breakdowns, and the like.
A variety of signal display devices have been disclosed that are mountable on vehicles, including devices intended for mounting on passenger vehicles and devices intended for mounting on the cab or the cargo bed of trucks. Many such devices are intended for use by ordinary motorists, as emergency equipment to be carried in their cars, in the manner of and in addition or replacement of devices such as emergency flares. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,205 issued to Halligan discloses a traffic warning apparatus for mounting on the trunk of a passenger automobile, which device features an illuminated arrow (storable within the trunk of the automobile) which can be set up to point left or right, and to use the auto""s existing warning light flasher circuit to flash an arrow signal directing following traffic to move into a selected traffic lane adjoining that of the signaling automobile.
Some prior art signal display devices are intended for permanent attachment to the roof of a passenger vehicle or a truck cab. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,152,854 issued to Berry discloses a roof-mounted warning signal apparatus, including folding means for configuring the signal display means in either an upright, signaling position or a horizontal storage position that minimizes air drag when the vehicle is in motion. Another roof-mounted signaling apparatus, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,515 issued to McDermott, features a frame having light-bearing arms that can be formed into an arrow, pointing left or right as desired. While helpful to following motorist in providing lane-changing information, these devices fall far short of providing motorists with the information needed to minimize delay, confusion and irritation attendant upon roadway emergencies.
It is a principal object of the invention to provide highway emergency repair vehicles, such as police cruisers and tow trucks, with message display and work-site lighting means, deployable from a stored position to a raised operating position, that enables roadway emergency worksites to be illuminated without directing hazardous glare into the vision field of oncoming motorists, and that also provides means to display informational and instructional messages to motorists, oncoming from either travel direction, that can assist motorists to navigate the work site area with a minimum of confusion, uncertainty and risk of accident.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide means to illuminate a temporary roadway or roadside work area, such as an accident site or a disabled vehicle, that does not also direct or spill hazardous glare in the vision of oncoming motorists. It is another and related object of the invention to provide a means to display, in a manner visible to oncoming motorists from a substantial distance, information concerning the accident or other roadside obstructing event that will assist motorists in navigating the obstructed site with minimal confusion, anxiety and risk of involvement in a secondary accident.
It is another object of the invention to provide means to equip an highway emergency vehicles, including police cruisers and road repair and removal vehicle, such as tow trucks, with deployable message display means comprising a rectangular message panel having on a front and/or a rear surface electronically controlled illuminated arrows and alpha-numeric characters for displaying pre-programmed directional arrows and/or informational or instructional messages.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide deployable message display means for attachment to a highway emergency vehicle, whereby the message display means may be disposed, for transport or storage, in an aerodynamically stable storage position in which the message display means are physically aligned with the contours of the vehicle, and that may also be disposed in a display position, in which a message display panel is disposed vertically above the roof of the vehicle, in a manner that exposes at least one message display surface to oncoming motorists.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a deployable message display panel for a highway emergency vehicle, which, when disposed in a vertical operating position, may be rotated about a vertical axis whereby messages displayed on one or on both sides of the display panel may be viewable from directions angled to the vehicle
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a deployable message display panel for a highway emergency repair or removal vehicle, wherein the display panel is supported by a structure also comprising work lights and wherein erection of the display panel from a horizontal storage position to a vertical operating position also causes said work lights to be correctly position to illuminate a work area, or accident site, at the rear and/or at the sides of the emergency vehicle or repair vehicle without directing glare in the vision of motorists on the roadway.
It is a related object of the invention to provide means to dispose work lights on a highway emergency repair vehicle to a sufficient height above the work area required for the operation of the emergency vehicle that strong bright lights, such as halogen luminaires, may be directed downward to illuminate brightly the work area of the emergency or repair vehicle without spilling substantial glaring light into the vision field of motorists approaching said work area.
It is also an object of the invention to provide the work light means described above in conjunction with illuminated message display means, in such a manner that, in operating position, the work lights do not spill glare onto or otherwise obscure the message display means. It is a related object of the invention to provide such message display means that are illuminated by electronically powered liquid display crystal components, or electrical illuminating elements, which are shielded from glare both from the work lights and from reflections from the roadway work site illuminated by the work lights.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide vehicles or other mobile equipment with means to display to highway travelers, usually on a temporary basis, brief and easily grasped information concerning an abnormality such as an obstruction, using in combination a short or abbreviated textual message (such as xe2x80x9cTOWxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cCAUTIONxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cCONSxe2x80x9d (for xe2x80x9cconstructionxe2x80x9d) xe2x80x9cACCxe2x80x9d (for xe2x80x9caccidentxe2x80x9d) and the like), and a graphical lane condition message, using directional arrows and Xs to represent open and closed travel lanes respectively.
It is a related object to provide means for such messages and instructions to flash for greater attention-getting.
It is also an object of the invention to provide emergency road service vehicles with means to illuminate the work-site and also to display messages to motorists that is inexpensive to construct and simple to operate.
It is also an object of the invention to provide emergency road service vehicles with means to illuminate the work-site and also to display messages to motorists that is readily attachable to, or removable from, an emergency road service vehicle.
The present invention is a vehicle-borne deployable work-light and message display panel, for use on many types of roadway emergency and repair vehicles, and also on vehicles used for roadwork repair, snow removal and other roadway activities. Generically the deployable message display panel of the invention is movable between a stored position and a deployed viewing position, in which the message display panel and work lights are deployed to a vertical position at a sufficient height above the panel-carrying vehicle, and the roadway, whereby the display panel can be seen (and read) from a distance and over intervening automobiles by oncoming motorists, and the work lights can illuminate an emergency site without spilling glare in the eyes of oncoming motorists. In its stored position, the message display panel does not mechanically or aerodynamically encumber the normal operation of the vehicle, and it may in addition contribute to the crash-worthiness of the vehicle.
The vehicle-borne deployable message display panel of the invention comprises a message display panel comprising a matrix of electrically-powered light-emitting or light-reflecting elements, a panel-supporting frame hingedly secured to the vehicle, movable work lights secured to the supporting frame, and, optionally, an electro-mechanical or hydraulic mechanism for rotating the frame between a stored or travel position and a raised viewing position. In addition, pre-programmed electrical circuitry is provided that enables a user to select for illumination on the display panel, preferably in alternating flashes of a few seconds"" duration, a word or abbreviation denoting the nature of the emergency or activity (xe2x80x9cTOWxe2x80x9d or, say, xe2x80x9cICExe2x80x9d), and a graphical matrix representing the open and closed travel lanes.
The message display panel and work-light structure of the invention is supported by a lightweight frame that, in the preferred embodiments of the invention, comprises members having dimensions and a precise shape custom-tailored to the specific type and model of roadway assistance vehicle to which it is intended to be affixed. However the invention is applicable to every common type of motorist assistance, emergency response, or roadway repair vehicle, including police cruisers, tow trucks, ambulances, highway repair vehicles (dump trucks, etc.) and specially equipped quick deploy vehicles such as fire control vehicles.
Once attached to a vehicle, the message display panel and work-light structure of the invention may be secured in a down storage or transport position, in which the message display panel generally rests in a horizontal position on the cab of the vehicle (or another comparable, horizontal surface where such storage does not impede travel or other normal use and operation of the vehicle), but the message display panel may be quickly deployed to a raised viewing position, for use when the panel-bearing vehicle has responded to an roadway situation that warrants providing other motorists with road hazard information.
In its simplest embodiments the message display panel and work-light structure of the invention is be supported by a lightweight frame that is raised manually between a storage position and an operating position. In the alternative, electro-mechanical or hydraulic means may be provided to rotate the frame supporting the message display panel from the stored position to the raised viewing position. Optionally, means may also be provided enabling the length of intermediate frame members to be adjusted when the frame is in the raised position, thereby varying the height of the message display panel above the highway, as needed for best visibility to motorists.
The vehicle-borne deployable message display panel structure of the invention is also adapted to carry high-intensity work lights for use in roadway emergencies that occur during low light conditions (night-time, etc.), in order to illuminate the emergency site for emergency personnel. Such high-intensity work lights are preferably positioned on the display panel-supporting frame immediately below the message display panel, and directed to shine down on the critical area in a manner that avoids the spillage of glare into the eyes of oncoming and passing motorists. Further, these downward illuminating lights may optionally be rotatably mounted on the tip of rods extensible and/or pivotable outward from the display panel supporting frame, whereby said lights can be extended laterally outward to illuminate a wider work area. The principal criteria for the positioning of said lights on the panel-supporting frame is that they not spill glare into the eyes of motorists and do not obscure the message displayed on the display panel.
Preferably the lamps used for such illumination are housed in luminaires comprising means for varying the radius of illumination, as appropriate to the needs and circumstances of the roadside emergency, and said luminaires are mounted to said extensible arms via universal joints that permit each luminaire, and the light issuing therefrom, to be angled in any direction as desired, manually or by means of electrically powered servo mechanisms.
The message display panel of the invention preferably comprises, as the message display means, a sequentiable array of illuminating elements that is adapted to display a limited set of simple standard instructions. Thus, the word xe2x80x9cTOWxe2x80x9d may be displayed to inform motorists that a disabled vehicle is being towed away, and flashed alternately every few seconds with a graphic display comprising a matrix of arrows xe2x80x9c↑xe2x80x9d to indicate free travel lanes and Xs to indicate travel lanes blocked by the xe2x80x9cTOWxe2x80x9d operation. Such display of arrows xe2x80x9c↑xe2x80x9d and Xs mimics and represents the roadway lane (travel and blocked) conditions existing at the emergency site. Similar simple sequential instructions are provided to inform motorists of other emergencies.
Optionally the message display panel of the present invention can be provided with greater informational flexibility by using a matrix of illuminating or reflective elements the illumination of which is controlled by a programmable computer switching control, enabling the display of a wide variety of informational and/or instructional messages.
The vehicle-borne deployable message display panel of the invention is adapted to provide a simple, inexpensive, highly visible and quickly erected display of roadway information for emergency conditions.